CHANCELLOR Sajid Javid is set to deliver the Budget within weeks as Brexit day draws closer.
The spending round will cover day-to-day department budgets for 2020/21, rather than a three-year period first mooted by the previous government, as the UK prepares to leave the EU on October 31.
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What can we expect in Budget 2019?
The new Chancellor, Sajid Javid, is to outline what we might expect in the budget to Wednesday, September 4.
Already he has promised cash boosts to “priorities” such as schools, hospitals and police.
He said the review would “give Whitehall departments certainty over their budgets for next year, and will confirm our plans to fund the nation’s priorities”.
What was in last year’s budget?
Interest-free cash and 60 days of “breathing space”
Families struggling with debts got interest-free cash under a new scheme to save them from the clutches of payday loan sharks.
Ex-chancellor Phillip Hammond wanted banks to forge a new partnership with debt charities to support low-income households pay for unexpected costs, which was a victory for The Sun.
We had been campaigning to help protect millions of people stuck paying off high cost credit loans – where rates can be as high as 6,000 per cent – as part of our Stop The Credit Rip-Off Campaign.
The Chancellor will also extend the six-week “breathing space” to protect borrowers from creditor action to 60 days – giving them more time to get their finances back on track.
More money for the NHS
The Chancellor is under pressure to relieve the strain on workers while finding money for the NHS and the police.
In a policy announced earlier this year, Theresa May said she aims to give the NHS an extra £20 billion by 2023.
This equates to a 3.4 per cent annually – but is less than the 3.7 per cent average increase the NHS has had since it was created in 1948.
Why your insurance bills could go up
If you have car insurance, home insurance, pet insurance or medical insurance, you are likely to be paying insurance premium tax (IPT).
Now it looks like the Chancellor is planning to hike this tax even further, after already raising the rate of this tax from 6 per cent in November 2015 to 12 per cent now following three increases made by the Government.
Fuel duty freeze
Chancellor Philip Hammond is set to scrap a scheduled 2p-a-litre rise at the pumps in the Budget in a victory for The Sun.
It will be the ninth freeze in a row, thanks to The Sun campaigning successive Chancellors to halt the annual raid on motorists.
Tax break cuts for pension savers
It’s predicted Philip Hammond will cut the tax relief that savers get on their pension funds as a way to fund the Government’s NHS spending.
Pension tax relief costs the Treasure about £39 billion a year.
What happened in the 2017 Budget?
HERE are key points from Budget 2017:
- Stamp duty was scrapped for first-time buyers under £300,000.
- The national living wage rose to £7.83.
- House-building saw a boost for 300,000 new homes per year.
- A hike in tax on diesel cars and fuel duty rise was scrapped.
- An extra £300 million towards HS2 was pledged.
- New taxes were introduced to discourage the use of plastic packaging.
- A freeze to duty was introduced on wine, beer and spirit.
- £40 million was pledged to train up maths teachers.
- 28p was added to a pack of 20 cigarettes.
Tax crackdown on fake self-employees
The Treasury wants to overhaul rules that allow self-employed people to avoid paying national insurance.
Hammond said he wanted to target people who take on work as a private company but are actually employees and should pay contributions.
The Treasury believes a third of self-employed people use this trick to get a tax break.
Ditched plans for a VAT tax raid on small firms
Mr Hammond ditcged plans for a VAT tax raid on small firms and White Van Man in favour of a less radical option that would see traders phased into the sales tax regime more gradually.
Treasury insiders say he was persuaded against a controversial move to halve the VAT treshold to £43,000, which would have dragged thousands of thousands of small firms into the VAT system.
Gas bill hiked for companies
The governent plotted to hike the tax firms pay on gas energy in a bid to wean them off carbon and onto renewable forms of energy.
But this would add up to half a billion pounds a year extra onto their annual energy bills – costs which may be passed on to customers, experts have warned.
The Chancellor is looking at “equalising the tax between gas and electricity”, according to a Treasury source.
A special Brexit 50p coin
Advanced plans were announced for a 50p Brexit coin, and it’ll be available when the country exits the EU.
In a bid to send out a positive signal to the world, the seven-sided coin is expected to bear the phrase ‘Friendship With All Nations’.
The plans are a major victory for The Sun – we’ve campaigned for the government to create an enduring gesture to mark Brexit as a landmark national moment, such as a special stamp or coin.
Anything else?
What is always included in the budget are major tax policies such as changes to income tax and National Insurance, spending and a general outlook of the UK economy.
Why isn’t it called the Autumn Statement anymore?
The Autumn Statement was scrapped by Philip Hammond in 2016.
At the recommendation of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), there is now a Spring Statement instead, with the Budget presented later in the year.
Spring 2017 saw the last Budget to be held at that time of the year.
This year, a Spring Statement was given for the first time.
The government has said that changing the tax system once a year, rather than twice, will lead to greater financial stability.
The Chancellor being pictured holding the red box briefcase is a traditional part of every Budget, but what is in it?
Mr Hammond is often viewed as a boring accountant, but he has actually had an exciting career before becoming the UK’s top financier.
Earlier this year, Philip Hammond told Theresa May to “butt off” of his Budget as relations collapsed.
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